Muffler



v I B. CARLEN.

MUFFLER.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 16. 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

INVENTOR I B. CARLEN.

MUFFLER.

APPLICATION FILED 001116.191].

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IBJ'ARNE GARLEN, OF N ORDSTRAN D, NEAR CHRISTIANIA, NORWAY, ASSIGNOR TO VACUUM MUFFLER CORPORATION OF AMERICA, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

MUFFLER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 2, 1919.

Application filed October 16, 1917. Serial No. 196,866.

.To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BJARNE OARLEN, a subject of the King of Norway, residing at Nordstrand, near Christiania, in the Kingdom of Norway, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mufflers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in mufilers for gas andsteam engines.

My invention is based on the expansion principle, the gases being passed through a gradually and rapidly enlarging nozzle so as to obtain a rapid expansion, and thereby a rapid reduction of pressure, but difi'ers from the mufliers heretofore known in that while each individual gradually widening exit slot or opening is narrow as in my application Serial No. 156,593, filed March 22, 1917, the total cross sectional area of said narrow slots or openings is substantially equal toor even larger. thanthe cross sectional area of the exhaust pipe.

Referring to the drawings in which like parts are similarly designated,

Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section on the lin 11 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a cross-section thereof.

Fig. 3 is a cross-section of a modification of the muflier illustrated in Figs 1 and 2.

Fig. 4 is a further modification.

Referring to the muffler illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, it is composed of two casings 8 and 9, preferably but not necessarily circular in shape, and held together by three bolts 10,'passing through them.

The half designated as 8 is provided with a sleeve or nipple 11, or equivalent, for attachment to th end of the engine exhaust pipe of a motor vehicle. This sleeve 11 is arranged eccentrically of the casing 8, and its opening into the casting 8 is surrounded by spaced, radially arranged vanes 12. These vanes are arranged in a circle concentric with the sleeve 11, and hence are also eccentric to the casing.

Each vane 12 is cast integral with the casing portion 8, has at its end adjacent the gas inlet 11 a thick portion 13, the sides of which are parallel or nearly so, andthen the thickness of the vanes 12 tapers to a narrow edge at'their ends. These vanes 12 also taper in width from their wide, thin peripheral edge down to their thicker inner ends, as indicated at 14 in dotted lines in Fig, 2, and in full lines in Fig. 3. Each of these vanes may or may not have a slight pro- ]ectlon 15 to facilitate the fitting of the parts together.

The casting 8 has a peripheral flange 16 carrying one half of the outlet or discharge 17, which, as will be seen from Fig. 1, is substantially tangential to the casing 89. The casing 9 is provided with an inwardly pro ecting cone 18, whose apex is at the center of the inlet opening 11. The slope of this cone corresponds to the taper indicated at'14. On this cone are vanes 19 alternating with and fitting between the vanes 12. The vanes 19 are substantially like the vanes 12, and may or may not be provided with proections 20.

The casing 9 is also provided with a peripheral flange 21 carrying the other half of the outlet 17. The two flanges 16 and 21 register with one another, and between them and the two circularly and eccentrically arranged sets of vanes there is a chamber 21 which by reason of the stated eccentricity varies in width toward the discharge 17.

The alternating vanes fit close to one another at their thicker ends 18 adjacent the inlet 11 and form narrow slots 22 that act as nozzles imparting to the gases a high velocity.

The vanes by reason of their more rapid taper beyond the portions l3 enable a rapid expansion of the gases, thereby cooling them to a very great degree, which cooling in addition to the cooling due to conduction and radiation from the mufiler itself greatly reduces the volume of the gases that are discharged into the atmosphere through the outlet 17 Each casing, 8 and9. may have integral therewith one half of the bracket 23, each half being provided with half of a bolt hole 24, for the reception of a securing bolt for supporting the mufl'ler from the vehicle frame.

The modification of Fig. 3 differs but slightly from Fig. 2, only in that the vanes l2 and 19 are tapered in the axial direction of the mufiler, as illustrated at 12 and 19.

Instead of directing the expansion in planes radially passing through the axis of the exhaust pipe, as in Figs. 13, I may arrange the mechanism so that the expansion takes place in planes practically at right angles to those just described.

In Fig. 4:, which involves the use of a larger number of parts, the expansiontakes place in planes transversely of the ax1s-but at varying inclinations. In this modlfication the two casing parts 8 and 9 are cylindrical, the inlet 11 is eccentric, as before, and the exhaust 17 is also eccentric and extends in the direction of the exhaust pipe, and not transversely thereto. The two casing parts are held together by three bolts 10', as before. Within the casing and concentric with the eccentrically arranged inlet 11 the vanes are formed as a series of circular plates having a central opening registering with the inlet 11 and suitably dished.

Each of these is preferably but not necessarily of the same thickness throughout and is provided with spacing lugs 26, and preferably those plates nearest the casing 8 have their spacing lugs nearest their periphery, and the succeeding plates have their spacing lugs successively nearer their centers, as illustrated.

.The last plate 27 of the series is conical with its apex lying within the central openings of the plates 25 and the inlet '11. The screws 10 pass through all the plates and the casing parts 8 and 9 Passing through the flat wall of easing member 9 is a screw 28 held in place by a lock-nut 29, the point of the screw resting in the apex of the conical plate 27. By adjusting the screw the slots formed between the plates at their inlet point may be varied, and at the same time, by reason of the arrangement of the lugs 26, the space between the plates at their peripheries will be inversely varied, so that the degree of expansion may be varied within certain limits. The slots between the plates are narrower at the center of the plates, and so provide a path for the gases gradually widening from the center toward the periphery.

In both of these structure expansion takes place continuously without sudden change in two directions, one being a peripheral direction and the other being parallel to the axis of the muffler, and practically perpendicular to the peripheral direction.

An important feature of my invention is the eccentric arrangement of the vanes or plates forming conductive passages gradually widening in two directions. All the structures herein described include this feature.

On reference to Fig. 1 it will be noted that some of the passages discharge almost immediately into discharge passage 17, while others discharge into the chamber 21 that gradually widens toward the discharge 17. The same is true of Fig. 4:. This arrangement enables streams of gas of differ ent pressures in chamber 11 to stream toward the outlet 17, and has the efiect of making the exhaust into the atmosphere without the marked puff, due to the periodic discharge of the engine into the exhaust pipe, and so objectionable in many types of mufilers.

I claim:

1. A muffler for exhaust pipes comprising a plurality of flat, stationary, radial vanes having their inner ends arranged to form a series of narrow nozzles surrounding the path of the exhaust gas from said pipe and extending longitudinally of said path, the sides of the vanes forming radially diverging passages for the expansion of the exhaust gas therein.

2. A muffler for exhaust pipes, comprising a casing, means to connect said casing to an exhaust pipe and stationary means within the casing concentric to the exhaust pipe and eccentric to the casing for receiving gas from said exhaust pipe and expanding it to substantially atmospheric pressure before discharge therefrom.

3. A mufiler for exhaust pipes comprising 5 two circular parts, each having a portion of a tangential outlet, one of said parts having an inlet eccentric thereto, radial vanes arranged in a circle about the inlet, the other part having a circular row of radial ribs ar- 10o ranged to fit between the vanes of the other art. p 4:. Amufiler for exhaust pipes consisting of two circular parts, one of said parts having an inlet eccentric thereto, radially arranged vanes arranged in'a circle about said inlet, and a portion of a substantially tangential outlet, and the other part having an eccentrically arranged cone having a circular row of radial ribs and the other portion of said outlet, said cone being arranged co-axial with the inlet and the ribs thereon arranged to alternate with the ribs on the first mentioned part.

5. A mufller for exhaust pipes, comprising a circular casing having a tangential outlet, and an eccentrically arranged inlet, a cone opposite said inlet near the axis thereof and vanes radially directed from said inlet having between them adjacent said inlet narrow nozzle-forming slots continuing into rapidly widening pressure reducing portions discharging into a peripheral passage gradually enlarging toward the exhaust.

6. A mufiier for exhaust pipes comprising a circular casing having an eccentrically arranged inlet and an eccentrically arranged outlet out of alinement with the inlet, a cone whose apex is directed toward said inlet and vanes between the cone and inlet and surrounding thelat'ter, said vanes arranged to enable expansion in two directions and dischargin eccentrically into said casing.

7. A mu er for exhaust pipes,-comprising a circular casing having an eccentrically arranged inlet and discharge, vanes arranged around said inlet eccentric to said casing, said vanes arranged to permit an expansion in two directions, and an outlet substantially tangential to said casing at about the point of greatest width between said row of blades and the casing wall.

8. A muflier for exhaust pipes comprising a casing and flat vanes spaced to form nozzles radiating from the center of the exhaust pipe, said flat .vanes arranged eccentric to said casing and providing passages between them gradually expanding from said nozzles to their edges, and a discharge for said casing eccentric thereto and receiving gases from a gradually widening chamber formed between the outer edges of said flat vanes and the casing. r

9. A mufiler for exhaust pipes comprising a circular casing having an eccentric inlet and an eccentric discharge out of alinement with the inlet, vanes surrounding the inlet eccentric to said casing and forming nozzles at said inlet and gradually enlarging passages expanding in two directions forming extensions of said nozzles and discharging. into a gradually widening chamber formed between the edges of the vanes and easing wall.

Intestiniony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

BJARNE CARLEN.

Witnesses:

C. NORMAN, G. FABRI'GIUS HANSEN. 

